What Is Preventative Maintenance?

Preventative maintenance is the regular, routine maintenance of your commercial kitchen and refrigeration equipment, performed by a fully manufacturer trained and qualified engineer. This routine activity is specifically designed to improve equipment efficiency, proactively identify and resolve any issues, reduce the likelihood of equipment breakdowns and prolong equipment life.

When totalling the cost of lost energy through inefficiency, emergency breakdowns, kitchen disruption and premature equipment replacement; preventative maintenance offers one of the most cost substantial returns on investment within your kitchen.

10 reasons why your kitchen needs preventative maintenance

Preventative maintenance saves you money by reducing equipment breakdowns and improving operating performance. It will also maintains both the safety and the energy efficiency rating of your equipment in accordance with the manufacturers guidelines. Pre-planning your maintenance before a busy period also helps to identify issues before they become a problem, keeping your kitchen running for when you need it most.

The key to ensuring consistent standards and minimising breakdowns is using fully trained and properly qualified engineers to carry out planned maintenance. These same engineers should also be given the responsibility for any equipment breakdowns. The quality of the maintenance in the first place will result in reduced failures however, should that equipment fail, the service supplier is geared up with the knowledge and expertise in place to achieve a first-time fix.

Preventative Maintenance - FAQ's

How regularly should equipment be maintained?

There is a legal duty placed on the responsible person in the kitchen to ensure the safety of all staff; and in particular, that gas fired equipment operates efficiently. Every item of gas equipment should be checked by a competent qualified person, at least once annually. How much service and maintenance depends upon how heavily the equipment is used and how crucial that equipment is to your business.

With maintenance being required at least annually, more often for busy caterers, it makes sense to identify someone to do it. A maintenance supplier will be more efficient and effective if they are familiar with the equipment in your kitchen and your kitchen operation. We offer a range of Service Contracts which pre-plan the maintenance activity over a period of a year or longer. This time spent planning ahead will ensure you are offered the best package of cover to suit your needs and provide the necessary legal compliance.

Is paying for preventative maintenance something of a gamble?While we do offer customers the ability to deal with us reactivity, those who choose not to undertake preventative maintenance do so with an element of risk. Premature equipment replacement, frequent reactive repairs, shorter working life and potential staff / customer hazards accumulate in a much higher cost for commercial kitchen operators over the course of the year.

For example many B&I caterers choose to invest in our LI or CO levels of maintenance support, particularly in preparation of key events or occasions such as major sporting events or important guests visiting. During these times of peak trade no one should risk their equipment not running at 100 per cent.

Simple tips to minimise equipment breakdowns

Our mission to you ensure that your kitchen is fully operational when you need it most, that's why we've created 10 simple tips to minimise breakdowns on the four most common items of commercial kitchen equipment.

Simply click the relevant image below to see how you can save money, reduce breakdowns and increase the longevity of your equipment.

Warewashers

Fryers

Combi Ovens

Refrigeration

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